I called Stanislaus after I returned from market today and talked to a rep and asked what Stanislaus product might be a counterpart to the Gangi Super Heavy Pizza Sauce with Salt and Dried Basil. The representative said he never heard of Gangi tomato products. I told the rep that the representative I had talked to about the Gangi tomato products was from Pacific Coast Producers and he told me that the Gangi tomato fields are right next to the Stanislaus fields and they both use the same type of tomatoes to make their tomato products. The representative told me that Stanislaus contracts out fields and the rep couldnít tell me where they are. I then said I guessed that all tomatoes that they use in Stanislaus tomato products are about 2.5% sugar. The Stanislaus rep said the tomatoes are different percents in sugars and acids, so they then have what is called a blending station that blends different tomatoes to get the right type of tomato product. The rep asked me how thick the Gangi sauce was and I told him. First the rep told me that maybe Full Red might be like the Gangi sauce, but I said I have already tasted the Full Red and to me it is sweeter than the Gangi sauce. I then asked the rep if they have any tomato products with dried basil. I had told the sales rep that I do use Saporito with fresh basil. He said there is a Saporito product with dried basil and that would make that tomato product taste different and there would be some little black specks in the Saporito product with dried basil. The rep is going to send me a sample can of the Saporito Super Heavy Pizza Sauce with Dry Basil, but the Nutrition Facts donít look anything like the Gangi product. The rep from Stanislaus mentioned Pizzaiolo Pizza Sauce http://www.stanislausfoodproducts.com/_pdfs/Pizzaiolo-Autentico-Pizza-Sauce.pdf and Tomato Magic http://www.stanislausfoodproducts.com/_pdfs/Tomato-Magic-Ground-Tomatoes.pdf but since I am not good at looking at Nutrition Facts fast, I sure donít know how they would compare to the Gangi product I purchased.

These are the Nutrition Facts for the Saporito Pizza Sauce with Dry Basil.

I opened the can of Gangi Supreme Super Heavy Pizza Sauce today and I thought it actually tasted good and was redder than I remembered. It isnít as sweet as what I normally use though. I added some oregano and black pepper so it might develop some flavor of the oregano until tomorrow. I might have to add more oregano tomorrow, but I didnít want to add to much oregano at first. A batch of 10 Mackís clone dough balls were made today to see what my customers think of a ďboardwalk styleĒ pizza.

I opened the can of Gangi Supreme Super Heavy Pizza Sauce today and I thought it actually tasted good and was redder than I remembered. It isnít as sweet as what I normally use though. I added some oregano and black pepper so it might develop some flavor of the oregano until tomorrow. I might have to add more oregano tomorrow, but I didnít want to add to much oregano at first. A batch of 10 Mackís clone dough balls were made today to see what my customers think of a ďboardwalk styleĒ pizza.

Thanks for the good luck for tomorrow! I am interested to see if my customers like them or not. I am not even sure if I have my crust right, but I did mix one extra dough ball at home to test too. I posted at Reply 1618 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9068.msg241956.html#msg241956 that I am using the Marucaís pitcher Trenton Bill gave me that I posted a photo of in that post. I saw the one pieman using a similar pitcher the one time I was at Mackís when Mack's wasn't really busy. I think Marucaís still uses pitchers like the one I posted. If I make a mess it is my fault, so no squeeze bottles for tomorrow.

At least in my opinion the boardwalk style pizzas went over well yesterday. By about 4:30 PM the 11 dough balls were all used up to make the boardwalk style pizzas. I know that isnít a lot of pizzas, but it was raining heavily in our area yesterday morning until about 2:00 PM in the afternoon, so not near as many customers were at market up until that time.

My friend Dave that usually comes to my stand in the morning to talk me said he had to make me a little boardwalk sign for me. In about a little over a minute he made me the little sign posted below. I just made 2 small signs on the computer yesterday morning that said ďNewĒ Boardwalk style pizzas. I had talked to the manager last week at market about that I might start to offer the boardwalk style of pizzas at market. He said when I do, he will make announcements that I am selling them. I told the manger that I have to try them out this week before I decide if I want to continue them and would let him know if I really start to offer them regularly, because I canít predict how many dough balls to make yet until I see what customers think of them. I thought that was even odd that the manager of market said he would make announcements over the loud speakers, because he wouldnít even do that when I started making pizzas at market because he said it would be unfair to all the other stand holders.

The dough balls behaved well throughout the day, but I am not sure if I have the exact right formulation I want to use yet for the dough balls to get the rims to brown right and the bottom of the crust to brown right. The bottom of the crust did brown better yesterday, but I would like a more even bottom browning. The skins could be tossed and twirled without any problems, even though I still canít toss the dough right yet. The taste of the crust was good though yesterday and when cut the bottom crusts were crispy. Steve and I were talking about increasing the TF a little more too, but I am not sure how much to increase the TF.

I didnít measure out the weights of the cheese I used yesterday because I was just trying to figure out how much cheese should be applied. I found out if too much cheese was applied that there was too much grease that wanted to pool in some places.

The pitcher Trenton Bill gave me worked well to apply the Gangi sauce. I also have to learn how much sauce needs to be applied. I had too big of a rim without sauce and cheese, but I am still in the process of learning about that. Steve told me that I should just apply the Gangi sauce like I usually do with a ladle, but I told him then it wouldnít really look like a boardwalk style of pizza without the spiral of the sauce.

I found it interesting that customers did notice that the pizzas were a boardwalk style. I had different comments that the pizzas looked and tasted like a Grottoís pizza. I didnít have any customers that have eaten a Mackís pizza, but customers must have gone by my stand and thought the pizzas looked like Manco and Manco pizzas. We had just finished selling the last slice of the boardwalk style pizzas and a lady came back and wanted a slice because she had walked by my stand earlier and had thought the slices looked like a Manco and Manco pizza. I told her we were all out of dough balls, but would have more of that style of pizza to offer next week. She said she would be back next week. The one stand holder that ordered a whole boardwalk style of pizza last week for this week did come and purchase slices earlier in the day and also came back for the whole pizza. She really likes the boardwalk style of pizza because she loves Grottoís pizzas. I had to laugh that customers do recognize that the pizzas did look like a boardwalk style of pizza, just because of the way the cheese and sauce are applied.

That Gangi sauce is redder in color than Steve and I had remembered too. I think the flavor of the Gangi sauce is now very good. The last picture is of the Gangi sauce on the left and my regular pizza sauce on the right. It can be seen that the Gangi sauce really isnít much darker in color than my regular pizza sauce.

I donít usually get my cell phone out during the day, because I donít want to get distracted from what I am doing, but a broker from Stanislaus had called me on my cell phone and left me a voice message that Stanislaus doesnít offer the Saporito with dried basil in my area, but told me to call him back for other Stanislaus products that might be comparable to the Gangi product. I have to call the broker back today.

I will see how these boardwalk style pizzas go over in the next few weeks, because I canít make too many different types of dough balls, because then it is too hard to predict how many different doughs balls to make for any given Tuesday.

These photos of the boardwalk style pizzas were the best looking ones from yesterday, but were ones I had time to take photos of.

I received the sample can of the Stanislaus Saporito Super Heavy-With Basil Pizza Sauce from Stanislaus yesterday. The Stanislaus Saporito with dried basil is on the right and the regular Saporito pizza sauce with fresh basil I use is on the left.

These were the boardwalk style of dough balls I made today for tomorrow. I upped the TF a little and decreased the sugar percentage a little. I still like a higher hydration dough to ball though. It better stop snowing in our area tonight or tomorrow morning. This is what it looked like outside a couple of minutes ago.

Well, my Mackís clone dough balls sure gave me problems on Tuesday. All I did was increase the TF and reduce the sugar percentage a little, but donít know what happened. I thought I mixed the same, but maybe I mixed too much dough for my mixer. I had to start out by letting the mixer bowl down until the water and flour were slightly combined, then I lifted the handle to finish the mixing. If I would not have lifted the handle first I think there would have been flour flying everywhere. The dough balls were like bears to open. They did open into skins, but they didnít bake right either. I liked the slightly thicker pizza, because it held better in the heated cabinet and the slices were nice to reheat though. I did sell all of the pizzas from the dough balls that were made. Even with all the pressing and pushing I am doing on these dough balls when opening into a skin, there still are bubbles that need to be popped when the pizza is baking in the oven.

I might have to revisit one of the other Mackís formulations on this thread and give one of them a try again, because I donít want to have to be fighting the dough balls every week when opening them into skins. I even let some of the dough balls temper a little (until the dough ball was warm and kind of soft) in the Hatco Unit to see if that would make them easier to open, but that didnít help either. Last week the dough balls were a little hard to open, but surely not as bad as this past Tuesday.

I also found out the Saporito with dried basil almost tasted like the Gangi sauce. I used that on all of my Detroit style pizzas on Tuesday. I donít think I can purchase that near me though. Stanislaus did send me another sample can of that product though. I found out this week that half water and half of the Gangi product worked out okay.

I also tried some dough balls for Greek pizza and although the Greek pizzas were thicker my customers didnít seem to mind. The dough skin became nice after tempering.

I think I have pizza overload. My daughter returned home from the shore earlier than I thought she would. She brought me a whole Mackís pizza home. My daughter said two slices of pizza she ate at Mackís were burnt on the bottom and sure didnít taste like it used to. She just ate two slices since she came home and said the pizza she brought home was better than the fresh slices she had at Mackís.

For me, the Mackís pizza doesnít taste as good as it once did. The crumb tasted bready to me when I tasted it tonight. The rim crust is flatter than I recalled too. The cheese tastes good and was buttery, but didnít have the tang that I recall. I check how thin the sauce must be applied and the sauce sure looks like it is spread on thin. Mackís TF is really low.

I never saw this before on the Mackís pizza boxes, but when I went to tear-up the Mackís pizza box last evening I saw Bova Food Distributors, Inc. must supply Mackís with pizza boxes. I donít know if Bova sells anything else to Mackís though.

I think I have pizza overload. My daughter returned home from the shore earlier than I thought she would. She brought me a whole Mackís pizza home. My daughter said two slices of pizza she ate at Mackís were burnt on the bottom and sure didnít taste like it used to. She just ate two slices since she came home and said the pizza she brought home was better than the fresh slices she had at Mackís.

For me, the Mackís pizza doesnít taste as good as it once did. The crumb tasted bready to me when I tasted it tonight. The rim crust is flatter than I recalled too. The cheese tastes good and was buttery, but didnít have the tang that I recall. I check how thin the sauce must be applied and the sauce sure looks like it is spread on thin. Mackís TF is really low.

Norma

Maybe Macks is having the same problem that we are! Getting the right cheese that has that tang.

Maybe Macks is having the same problem that we are! Getting the right cheese that has that tang.

ERASMO,

I can tell you I did speak to a distributor in Vineland, NJ that told me last year that they do supply the cheese for Mack's and Manco and Manco. Whether that is true, or not I don't know, unless I would purchase a block of that cheese. They told me the cheese is aged for three months though at their business before it goes to Mack's or Manco and Manco.

I wasnít satisfied with my results for the last two weeks in the crust, or how the dough balls opened with the formulation I was using. I decided to change the formulation I am using. The formulation I am trying is posted below.

I mixed two batches today, because it is supposed to snow in our area starting tonight, through tomorrow. Maybe it there wonít be much snow like the last time the weathermen forecasted for more snow, but I rather be safe then sorry in having dough for Tuesday. I called the one manager today and he said I could make my dough today at market, instead of tomorrow. I really donít like to drive in a lot of snow, so that is another reason I wanted to make the dough batches today.

Someone might think it is odd that I ended up with 21 dough balls from the formulation I am trying, but I weighed my dough balls at 1.30 lb and I did use a bowl residue compensation. These are how the dough and dough balls looked. Hopefully, this formulation works out okay.

I am not really trying for the looks, tastes, or TF of a Mackís pizza anymore, because I really donít like the Mackís pizzas the last two times I had them. The crust is too bready tasting to me and there was no rim rise. I am still going to press on the dough ball and skin a lot, but if there is some rim rise that is okay with me. What I really want now, is the sauce and the cheese to taste more like a Mackís pizza and I think I have the sauce and cheese okay now. I want a better tasting crust than Mackís has.

It can be seen how warm it was at market today. Each time I go to market I never know what temperature it will be at market. That makes things rather difficult when making dough. I am going for a 17Ē pizza now instead of an 18Ē pizza.

The dough balls were easier to ball today. If this formulation works okay, I will have to change the yeast amount for a normal one day cold fermentation. I also changed flours from Kyrol to Occident.